JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #122 - July 2018 - 36

FEATURE AEROSPACE nano-satellite
Focus
Based in Mooresville, North Carolina, CRP USA resides in the heart
of the southern industrial and manufacturing hub and is surrounded
by a growing aerospace community. With more than a decade of
experience in 3D printing and advanced manufacturing, the company
works alongside key industry leaders to manufacture functional
prototypes and end-use components from the Windform® family of
high-performance composite materials.

Fig. 5: Special shape for the batteries and
electronics (Courtesy of Tetonsys)

Fig. 6: Final vibration and thermal vacuum
testing (Courtesy of Morehead University)

process seemed impossible. After hours
of analysis and design by Tetonsys, the final CAD model was ready to be manufactured. Designed using the Windform® XT
2.0 material properties, the CAD file was
sent to CRP USA and the part produced.
The result was an additive-manufactured
single part with unique features (special
shape for the batteries, electronics, and
release door, see Figure 5) that was sent
to Tetonsys for integrating the electronics and making it ready for environmental
testing. When they received the TuPOD,
Tetonsys immediately noticed the difference in the quality of construction versus
other additive technologies and was impressed with the fact that TuPOD came
as a ready-to-use part, with no additional
manufacturing required. This saved the
team both time and money.
After completing the electronic board integration and multiple functional performance tests, TuPOD was sent to Morehead State University for final vibration
and thermal vacuum testing (Figure 6).

Fig. 7: Integration of the TubeSats into TuPOD by
the GAUSS team in Rome (Courtesy GAUSS Srl)

During the course of the TuPOD qualification, two series of full environmental
testing were performed and at each level,
multiple functional testing and deployment testing were performed to ensure the
integrity of the structure, electronics and
overall system.
TuPOD was shipped to GAUSS in Italy for
the final integration of the TubeSats into
the mothership (Figures 7 & 8).

Fig. 8: Last phase of the TubeSats integration
(Courtesy GAUSS Srl)

Then, TuPOD was brought to Japan for
integration into the J-SSOD CubeSat
deployer ( JEM Small Satellite Orbital
Deployer) at the Tsukuba Space Centre
of JAXA ( Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency) in Ibaraki Prefecture by a GAUSS

jec composites magazine / N°122 July 2018

and JAXA team.
The J-SSOD deployer, containing the TuPOD together with other nanosatellites,
was installed inside the H-IIB autonomous
spacecraft, named KOUNOTORI 6, for
the HTV-6 mission to deliver supplies to
the International Space Station (ISS).
The HTV-6 Japanese launcher was sent
from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex,
Tanegashima Space Centre, to the ISS.
KOUNOTORI 6 was captured by the
ISS' robotic arm and berthed to the ISS.
TuPOD was then deployed, with the Japanese astronauts' help, from the ISS Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo" (Figure
9).
TANCREDO I and OSNSAT were released from the TuPOD satellite/deployer about three days after the launch into
orbit of the TuPOD, as soon as it was distant enough from the ISS. The astronauts
manually set the launch and accomplished
the task using the J-SSOD JAXA deployment device, specifically designed to release small satellites into orbit. Once in
space, TuPOD itself and TANCREDO-1
transmitted telemetry data, which were
received and decoded by amateur radio
operators from all over the world. The TuPOD mission was scheduled to work up
to one week, but it worked more than the
expected time.
During the mission, Windform® XT 2.0
passed all the flight qualification tests required for complex systems such as the
International Space Station. This achievement, unimaginable until recently, opens
many perspectives on the possibility of using this material for space applications. In
particular, GAUSS Srl is more than satisfied with the selective laser sintering technique and considers the Windform® family

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #122 - July 2018